Oxfordshire traffic puts bus funding at risk, warns local firm

Millions of pounds in funding for electric buses in Oxfordshire could be in jeopardy thanks to the county's traffic, a local bus company warned.

The money is part of the Department for Transport's zero-emission bus scheme.

Oxfordshire County Council was awarded £82m for 159 electric buses and associated infrastructure.

Half of that is being contributed by the area's bus companies - but is dependent on journey times reducing by 10% compared to pre-pandemic rates.

Bus companies Stagecoach and the Go-Ahead Group, which includes the Oxford Bus Company, Thames Travel, and City Sightseeing Oxford, are due to contribute £43.7m.

Luke Marion, managing director of The Oxford Bus Company, said he was confident "there are levers that can be pulled" to deliver the necessary journey time improvements.

However, he added: "I do recognise that at the moment we are certainly going in the wrong direction out on the road as things stand.

"We do need to turn that round if we want it [the scheme] to be a success."

The council said the bus companies' funding of the scheme "has always been dependent on measures being introduced to reduce bus journey times".

It added that a decision on the proposed introduction of traffic filters to help reduce bus journey times "by at least 10%" would be made once a consultation has taken place.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "We have allocated over £270m in funding for zero-emission buses to help us meet our net-zero ambitions and make bus journeys more efficient.

"Government funding will be released to Oxfordshire Country Council once local traffic improvements have been confirmed."

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